Against doctor’s orders, Chase Hawk started pumping around on his bike yesterday for the first time since he broke his foot at Texas Toast. He’s not back to actually riding just yet, but he’s getting close. In lieu of this momentous occasion, I asked Chase a few questions about his injury and his time off his bike.

Chase, you got hurt at Toast a few months ago, how long have you been injured for now?

Let’s see, I did it on October 15, so a little over three months now. I have a doctor’s appointment February 5, and at my last appointment he told me he was most likely going to give me the OK to start riding again at my next appointment. So I plan on riding as soon as he gives me the OK. I’ve been doing lots of rehab for the last month or so; been in the gym a lot trying to get it strong, just trying to prepare it for being back on the bike again.

How stoked are you to start riding again?

Very. This year’s gonna be very busy; I’ve already got a lot of stuff planned, so really my main focus is just getting my leg as strong as possible to prepare it for the next eight months of lots of traveling, filming, contests. . . . Yeah, it’s gonna be a busy year, but I’m looking forward to it, just gotta get this thing strong first.

What have you been up to in your off time besides the rehab stuff?

Well the first two months of it basically consisted of a lot of sitting around and hanging out and wishing I was doing other stuff because it was so nice outside. But doctor’s orders were to keep it completely immobilized, and I tried to listen to him the best that I could, so I for the most part stayed at home, watched movies, kept the leg elevated, and tried to stay healthy. Yeah, that was basically it. As soon as I was given the okay to start doing some weight bearing and start walking around on it again, and to get in the gym and get on the stationary bike and all that stuff, I did it immediately.

In the last few weeks or so, since I’ve been walking around so much, I’ve started to be able to play the drums again. I did my right foot, so it’s my kick drum. As soon as I found out I was able to do that I got pretty excited, because this is a really good time to take advantage of that and get some practice with that. I ended up buying a new drum set, and I’ve been playing with Jay Roe who just moved here. Being able to do that has been really fun, because normally I don’t have the time to plan out and meet up with other musicians and actually get to jam. It’s mostly me sitting at home and playing along to whatever music I have on my phone. It’s a completely different thing when you’re sitting in a practice studio with other musicians and you’re on an actual real drum set, so being able to do that lately has been really fun, I’ve been really enjoying it. Who knows, maybe try and start a band at some point if I have enough time to be around to do it.